Metro: Obama 2013 inauguration projected to be 50 percent smaller

12/6/12 3:37 PM EST

AP Photo

Washington D.C.'s public transit system is moving forward with plans for a January inauguration with about 50 percent of the ridership of President Obama's historic 2009 swearing-in ceremony.

According to a report released Thursday to the board of directors of the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority (WMATA), the agency expects between 500,000 and 800,000 attendees to use the rail and bus system on the day of Obama's swearing-in for his second term. The agency first made those initial ridership projections in October — and warns that they are weather and temperature-dependent.

That's down significantly from the record-shattering 1.5 million riders the agency carried into downtown Washington D.C. in 2009. The District of Columbia estimated that 1.8 million people attended the 2009 swearing-in — meaning that most of them rode public transit to the National Mall.

The agency announced plans Thursday to run a similar service pattern in 2013 — expecting hundreds of thousand of visitors and packed trains and buses.

"Metro is planning the same level of transit service it provided during the 2009 Inauguration, although attendance is not expected to reach the historic levels of four years ago," the report says.

WMATA expects to start service at 4 AM on inauguration day, before their normal weekday opening time. The agency also expects to continue operating trains until 2 AM the next day — much later than their normal Monday closing time. The agency plans to run on a peak rush-hour service schedule for 17 straight hours.

The agency has also ordered more than 100,000 special Obama fare-cards that they will sell for the special price of $15 each. WMATA has also launched a special Twitter account @MetroInaug to communicate updates about the swearing-in ceremony.